Minneapolis Cops Won't Be Charged In Tekle Sundberg Shooting Death

MINNEAPOLIS — The Hennepin County Attorney's Office announced Wednesday that it will not file criminal charges in the July 2022 Minneapolis police shooting death of 20-year-old Andrew "Tekle" Sundberg.

"Mr. Sundberg’s death was a tragedy," Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in a statement.

"Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Mr. Sundberg. People who are suffering from mental health crises are vulnerable, and encounters between those in crisis and law enforcement must be handled with special care. In this case, tragic as it is, the officers' use of deadly force was legally authorized under Minnesota law."

In a 39-page report, the attorney's office concluded that the use of deadly force was justified under Minnesota law.

"In Minnesota, peace officers are authorized to use deadly force while in the line of duty," the attorney's office said.

"Deadly force may be used, however, in limited circumstances. Deadly force is authorized if an objectively reasonable officer would believe, based on the totality of the circumstances known to the officer at the time and without the benefit of hindsight, that such force was necessary to protect the peace officer or another from death or great bodily harm."

Under Minnesota law, for deadly force to be legally used, there must be a threat of death or great bodily harm that:

1. Can be articulated with specificity
2. Is reasonably likely to occur absent action by the law enforcement officer
3. Must be addressed through the use of deadly force without unreasonable delay

Freeman found that all of the elements of the use-of-deadly-force statute were met in this case.

"It is not possible to know Mr. Sundberg's intentions or exact mental state, but those are not determinative in this legal analysis," the attorney's office said in a news release.

"Instead, we must analyze the use of deadly force based only on what an objectively reasonable officer in the officers’ positions would have known or perceived, and not on what Mr. Sundberg’s intentions may have been."

Background on case

On the evening of July 13, a mother called the police after Sundberg shot into her third-floor apartment through the walls, authorities said. The gunshots nearly hit her and two boys, ages 2 and 4, the mother said.

Six hours later, at about 4:30 a.m. on July 14, two Minneapolis officers shot and killed Sundberg. The officers were identified as Aaron Pearson and Zachary Seraphine.

A vigil was set up outside of the apartment complex where the standoff took place, and Black Lives Matter protesters gathered there Saturday. The mother who reported being shot at by Sundberg confronted the protesters, a video from KARE 11 reporter Deevon Rahming shows.

Also read: 'He's Been Stalking Me': Transcript Released In Tekle Sundberg Case

In the days following the shooting, the city of Minneapolis released the body camera footage from the standoff.

At one point in the video released, Sundberg shoots at an officer through a door in the apartment complex, just missing.

The video also shows officers rescuing a mother and her two young children. However, it does not show what Sundberg does before officers fired the fatal shots, which ended the standoff.

The video contains graphic images that may be disturbing: